Latch



Patented Jan. 24, I899. H. HEGEL.

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HENRY HEGEL, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

LATCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 618,091, dated January 24, 1899.

Application filed September 17, 1898. Serial No. 691,171. (No model.)

To all whont it may concern.-

Be itknown that I, HENRY HEGEL, a citizen of the United States, residing at St. Louis, State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Door-Latches, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

M y invention has relation to improvements in door-latches; and it consists in the novel arrangement and combination of parts more fully set forth in the specification and pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal section taken through the latch and a transverse section of the door carrying the same, the door-jamb being shown in elevation, as well as the locking-pawl carried thereby. Fig. 2 is an inner end view of the partsthat is, looking toward the left of Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on line 3 3 of Fig. 1, taken through the door and j amb, the remaining parts being shown in top plan.

The object of my invention is to construct a door-latch especially applicable to doors of bathrooms, toiletrooms, and the like, the latch being so constructed as to allow a person to open the door from the outside and to lock the latch from the inside of the bathroom after the latter has been entered. To this end I have constructed a latch which in detail may be described as follows:

Referring to the drawings, 1 represents the door, and 2 the jamb thereof. The latch 3, which passes through an opening 4, cut in the door, has an outer thumb portion 5, an intermediate enlarged portion 5 adjacent to the inner surface of the door, an inner locking portion 5, and an inner extension 5'. The latch is pivotally mounted on a pin 6, carried by the lateral inner wings 7 of an inner plate 8, carried by the door and through which the latch passes. The pin 6 passes through a pocket of the latch, said pocket being formed by lateral walls 9, substantially triangular in shape and extending from points a little beyond the outer face of the door to approximately the base or lower edge of the enlarged portion 5 of the latch. Coiled about the pin 6 is a spring 10, whose one free end or arm bears against the under surface of the latch within the pocket referred to, and whose opposite end or arm bears against the inner surface of the plate 8 below the lower edge of the opening 11, formed in said plate.

The action of the coiled spring is such as to keep the latch in the position indicated by full lines in Fig. 1. The outer end of the latch passes through a plate 12, formed integrally with the handle 13. The jamb is provided with a plate 14, whose terminal bevel end 15 constitutes a catch, along whose inclined face the locking portion of the latch bears while the door is being closed, the latch, under the resilient action of the spring, snapping to a locked position when the door is fully closed. To unlock the parts, the latch is tilted to the dotted position shown in Fig. 1 either by depressing the thumb portion 5 or raising the inner extension 5' by the person in the inside of the bath-room. Should it be undesirable that outsiders should enter while a person is inside the room to which the door may lead, I provide the jamb with a locking-pawl 16, pivoted in proximity to the latch and limited in its swing by a pin 17, carried by the latch. The pawl can be swung into engagement with the inner end of the latch, when no person on the outside can possibly trip the latch and open the door. The spring-actuated latch, as here described, can be used, of course, on doors of any description, on shutters, and the like.

Having described my invention, what I claim is 1. A door-latch and lock therefor, comprising a suitable latch, a plate carried by the door, suitable wings formed on said plate, a pin mounted between said wings, said pin serving as a pivot for the latch, a pocket having lateral walls formed in the latch through which the pin passes, a spring coiled about the pin and having one arm bearing against the base of the pocket, and a second arm against the inner surface of the plate, and a catch carried by the door-jamb for locking the inner end of the latch, substantially as set forth.

2. A door-latch and lock therefor, comprising a latch, a plate carried on the inner surface of the door and having lateral wings formed integrally therewith, a pocket formed along the under surface of the latch, a pivot pin passing through the lateral walls of the of the latch on one side thereof, and a lockpocket and having its opposite ends supported by the Wings, a spring" coiled about the pin and having one of its free ends hearing against the base of the pocket, and the other against the adjacent inner face of the plate, an outer plate having a handle formed integral therewith, the latch passing through openings formed in the respective plates and in the door, acatch carried by the door-janib and adapted to cooperate with the inner end in g-pawl also carried by the jamb and adapted to permanently look the latch from the opposite side after the door has been fully closed, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

HENRY HEGEL. Vitnesses:

EMIL STAREK, GEORGE L. BELFRY. 

